Bridging Differences

In Bridging Differences
Deborah exchanges views with a different colleague, each for a month or two. Currently she is blogging with Joe Nathan, a long time colleague, friend and cothinker from Minnesota, who is still a charter fan! Joe is the director of the Center for School Change. He grew up in Kansas and went on to teach 6th-8h graders and then helped in the starting years of two innovative--one in St Paul and one in Minneapolis, which was probably where we first met.

The latest, but already “well-established” myth is that more time spent in school equals better test scores. The Center for Public Education checks the claim out and discovers: “The data clearly shows that most U.S. schools require at least as much or more instructional time as other countries, even high-performing countries like Finland, Japan, and Korea….. the U.S. does not require schools to provide less instructional time than other countries.” In fact, in Finland the hours spent in school is considerably less. And in China I wouldn’t believe a word they report–many kids are not in school at all, etc.

Will the facts have an impact on “policymaker”? Unlikely. Like Bush they operate in an alternative world of their own creation for their own
purposes.